Today in the 1770s: January 19

NORFOLK, January 19, 1775.
We are informed, from King and Queen county, that several Gentlemen there have of late attempted to extract molosses from pumkins (a plant easily raised in this county) and met with the desired success; the pumkins yielded liquor of a good quality, and in such quantities that two rendered three quarts fit for distilling.----This being the case, the colony may, with a proper use of this information, be thoroughly supplied with rum without extra imports of molasses.

About this entry:

Molasses was one of the commodities in the controversy over the Sugar Act of 1764 and later in the nonimportation agreements. While the Sugar Act slightly reduced the tax on foreign molasses, it increased the tax on sugar imports and prohibited the importation of rum. Finding a locally made substitute would reduce the need to import molasses.

Language notes:

About

Intended to provide a glimpse into the breadth of subject matter in the Gazette, excerpts from the 18th-century Virginia Gazette have been chosen for every day of the year and annotated by staff of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library.

Each entry reflects an event that
happened on a particular day (or something published on a particular day).